The 8th of March marks International Women’s Day (IWD), which is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The theme for IWD 2024 is ‘Inspire Inclusion’; recognising that when we inspire others to understand and value inclusion, we forge a better world.
Sarah Chessell (Lead for the Dorset Innovation Hub) and Dr. Claire Nadaf (Head of Academic Enterprise and Engagement at the AECC University College) recently discussed what they felt ‘inspiring inclusion’ meant and how we can break down barriers and create environments where all women are valued and respected. A recording of the full discussion is available on the Dorset Innovation Hub YouTube channel.
Within this conversation it was raised that central to achieving this is for women to be able to feel comfortable in any environment; with the promotion and embracing of diversity as key. Diversity not to be seen as a challenge but rather something to embrace and be seen as a normal part of our everyday lives. Indeed, the world would be boring if we were all the same. There is a need not only to work together naturally with differences but also to celebrate them.
Claire discusses her use of relational leadership as a way of creating environments where diversity is embraced, and individuals are valued and respected. Within a workplace setting colleagues will be working towards a shared purpose or goal, but we will all work differently to get there. There needs to be a recognition that there is no one right or wrong approach, rather to trust people and be comfortable with allowing people to explore their new ideas and approaches.
As part of relational leadership, it was also highlighted that we need to value people’s beliefs, their experiences, and their history. Claire referring to the work of the German philosopher Gadamer who states that everything we do comes from our history. All our experiences are the things that we base most of our decisions on so if we cannot embrace the history that people bring with them, then there will be a struggle to move forwards. By understanding and valuing a person’s history, we have a better idea of what drives and motivates them. Gadamer further recognising the centrality of dialogue to developing that understanding; the importance of communication and talking.
Discussions also touched on the new Centre for Workforce and Systems Innovation at AECC University College which seeks to address workforce challenges through innovative approaches, evidence-based policies, and effective implementation strategies, ultimately improving healthcare delivery and patient outcome by working in meaningful partnership with stakeholders. Claire advocating the need for health and care higher education providers to involve the NHS workforce in decision making so that health and care education can be co-produced, and thus more effectively provide workforce solutions and help to fill gaps in workforce.
Within the conversation the importance of truly listening as a tool to understand and value inclusion was raised. Claire illustrating this with an example from her experience within a reverse mentoring project. This example highlighting how we can approach scenarios with assumptions and raising the challenge of how often do we actually check-in to test whether those assumptions were correct. When designing services within education or healthcare the importance of co-production with the end user being vital to success as well as preventing the promotion of an agenda that is our own based on untested assumptions. If we make service design genuinely about the end user, then this will naturally promote and encourage inclusion.
Finally, Sarah and Claire highlighted their strong personal beliefs that as women we need to make sure that women are recognised and celebrated for their achievements. We all have a role in facilitating this to ensure that women do not struggle to be recognised in the workplace for the value that they bring.
A recording of the full discussion is available on the Dorset Innovation Hub YouTube channel.
08/03/2024
